


Enough

by Woodentrain



Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017), Call Me By Your Name - All Media Types
Genre: Biting, Extramarital Affairs, Friends With Benefits, M/M, New York, Sort Of, horny grown up elio, just about, they're both married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 12:44:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14852996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Woodentrain/pseuds/Woodentrain
Summary: Is it enough to meet like this?





	Enough

Elio's exhausted.  Lent term is always difficult, with the short days and the incessant, damp cold from the fens.  Right now it's late, and it's been one of those days.  Problems with staff, problems with students, his phone constantly ringing and his inbox pinging with messages.  He even closed his office door this afternoon, in a futile attempt to get some peace- but that in itself was so unlike him that people started knocking to check that he was alright in there.  Today's post still sits in a pile on his desk, and he's determined to sort it before heading home.  He called Nicola hours ago to let her know he's going to be late back and she should eat without him.  He takes off his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger, taking a moment to close his eyes.

The first three envelopes go straight into the bin, but the fourth needs to be read, if only briefly.  It's not the most interesting of publications, and perhaps he should leave it until morning when he's fresh and less likely to fall asleep.  But no.  Because suddenly it becomes a lot more interesting, and he's wide awake.  There's a conference in New York in two months' time, a conference that he could certainly justify attending.  

Before he makes the arrangements he needs to check whether it will be worth his while.  Although it’s late in the evening in Cambridge, it will be late afternoon in New England, so he picks up the phone and dials the international number he has long ago memorised.

"Good afternoon, Oliver Hart."

"It's me." No other words are needed.

"It’s you.”  Elio hears the smile in his voice.  “How are you?"

"Good, I’m good."  A pause.  "It's been too long".

"It has.  Listen- I can’t talk now.  I was just on the way out of my office to go teach a seminar.  But let me guess- you're calling to say that it might not be much longer?"  Elio can hear his smile getting bigger.

"Indeed.”  Elio’s smiling too.  He’d forgotten the effect Oliver’s voice could have on him.  “Conference.  New York.  April 23rd.  It looks like it’ll be horribly boring.  Do you think you can make it?  We’ve never hung out in New York before.  I'll forward you the details, but it's something your department should be happy for you to attend."

"Great.  I'll take a look and let you know."

The answer is in Elio's inbox the next morning.  One word.  Yes.

He asks his secretary to make the arrangements.  "Of course, Dr Perlman.  I'll ring them right away."

***

It's raining when Oliver arrives at the hotel, later than planned thanks to a cancelled train.  "Thank you, Dr Hart.  You’re in room 503.  Breakfast is served from 6.30.  Enjoy your stay.  Oh- and there's a message for you."  It's a white envelope with his name on in the familiar handwriting.  He can't help the grin on his face as he pockets it and heads for the elevator.  He knows exactly what will be inside- it’s a key card and a scrap of paper with a room number on.  315.  He puts the card to the fifth floor room he won't use in the side pocket of his bag, and presses the 3.

Oliver takes off his shoes and drops his bags on the floor just inside the door of the dimly lit room.  Elio's had a long flight so he's probably curled up under the duvet, taking a nap heedless of the fact that sleeping now means that he'll likely be unable to sleep tonight.  Oliver's suspicions are confirmed when the bed comes into view- although it's not exactly what he expected.  Elio's on top of the duvet, completely, gloriously naked.  Oliver has obviously woken him up, because he stretches a little as he opens his eyes.  

"Sorry, I saw your message and once I knew you were going to be late I fell asleep."

"Well.  I'm here now."

"I have something for you.  Catch."

Oliver holds out his hands and Elio takes something from the nightstand and throws it to him.  A condom.  Oliver's eyes widen. 

"Don't make me wait.  It's been eight months."

"And eleven days.  Don't forget the eleven days," says Oliver, letting his pants fall to the floor.  

Elio drags him down onto the bed and pulls his t-shirt over his head before kissing him, hard and rough but too brief- because them he's rolling onto his front, head braced in his forearms.  "Do it.  Now.  Please".

"Wait.  Wait, wait, wait.  Where's the lube?  Let me-" Oliver may be desperate, fully hard already, but he's not about the skip the foreplay altogether.  

"Already taken care of.  I’ve been waiting here for a long time."  Oliver's eyes widen even more.  "Do you have any idea how late you are?"

Oliver's fingers soon confirm that Elio's right, and he's pushing in just moments later, with a sharp intake of breath.  "God, Elio, you're- you don't know how much I missed this."

"I know _exactly_ how much you missed this.  Now c'mon.”  the impatience is clear in his voice.  “ _Move_."

And Oliver does.  "You know I'm not going to last."

"Me neither.  Don't care.  More, _please_."  So Oliver grabs him by the hips and fucks him hard and fast.  Elio shouts Oliver's name and moans, desperate and filthy and very, very loud.

“Elio.  The whole hotel is going to hear you.  Just- here.”  Oliver grabs the nearest thing he can reach- his own t-shirt- and presses it to Elio's mouth.  “Shush.  Bite on this if you have to.”

Elio does, and the moan he lets out when he comes is muffled in the fabric.  The same cannot be said of Oliver, who grips Elio hard enough to bruise as he shouts his name.

“God, Oliver.  Are you trying to deafen me?”

Oliver huffs out a laugh.  “Sorry.  It's been a long time.”

“I know.  A really long time.  I needed that.”

“I'm starving,” says Oliver, tying off the condom.  “Wanna go get dinner?”

“Soon.” Elio is suddenly small and vulnerable as he pulls back the duvet.  “Hold me first?”

“Of course.”

They kiss, gentle and lazy, before drifting off to sleep, arms and legs tangled together.  

They order room service in the end.  Going out to find dinner seems like too much effort right now.  They sit and talk as they eat, because this is the time they spend catching up on what they’ve missed, the things that are going on in each other’s lives.  Old friends who don’t see each other often enough.  Oliver gestures around the room.  "This is pretty nice .  You have a balcony.  Does my room have a balcony?"  
"Mmm.  Probably not.  I paid for an upgrade.  Nicola better not find out- she wanted to come with me this time.  Go shopping, see the sights.  I told her I had a really full schedule, and that she'd be bored and alone, and she didn’t really mind staying at home."  
There's a wry smile on Oliver's face as he asks, "She still cheating on you?".  
Elio smiles back.  "She's still cheating on me.  I still don't mind.  She still doesn't know I know.  I don't think so, anyway."

“Do you honestly never think about leaving?  It's been going on for how many years now?”

“Oh.  Longer than you and me’ve been doing this.  Six years, maybe longer?  But the fact that we both sleep with other people doesn’t mean we don’t love each other.  Apart from the cheating, it's a pretty good marriage.  I’m happy.  And staying is easier than leaving.  It's always easier to do nothing.”

“Well, I suppose.”  Oliver’s expression says he’s not sure about this.

“Don’t be like that, Oliver.  It's fine.  Now tell me what’s new with you.  Jess still want another baby?”

Oliver laughs.  “Oh, thank god, no.  I talked her out of that.  I told her- I’m 44, my kids are almost grown and gone, I don’t want to do all that again.”  Oliver pauses and thinks for a moment.  “I don’t think she really wanted one anyway.  Not really.  I think it was just a… a biological thing, you know?  Nature saying that this is your last chance.  But it’s okay now.  She says the next thing will be me, having a mid-life crisis.”

It’s Elio’s turn to laugh now.  “You already are.  Isn’t that what this is?  Carrying on an affair with someone you sneak off to see at conferences a couple of times a year?”

Oliver looks shocked.  “You think that’s what you are?  All you are?”

There’s a long silence.  Elio looks out of the window, unable to meet Oliver’s eyes as he says, “No.  But it’s easier for it to just be that.  We both know this can’t be anything more.  And it’s enough.  You know?”  There’s a reason they don’t talk about this, so Elio changes the subject.  “Tell me about the boys.  How are they doing?”

***

Neither of them gains much from the conference- at least, not from a professional point of view.  They walk in Central Park and drink coffee by the river and even, at Elio’s suggestion, skip a whole day of seminars in order to go to the zoo, where they hold hands and lick each other’s ice cream cones and laugh like children.

But it’s just three days, and then it’s time to say goodbye again.  How many months will it be this time, until they’re able to meet again like this?

One of them always make the suggestion.  “We should meet up some time.  Properly.  Not at a conference.  Just to hang out.”

They both know that they won’t.  That would cross a dangerous line- because as long as they only meet like this they can tell themselves it’s little more than chance, and that they’re really no more than colleagues with benefits.  

And that, in itself, is more than either of them ever thought they’d have.  

For now, it’s enough.  

**Author's Note:**

> Some of you will know that I finished my longer fic, Finding the Stars, last weekend, and it finished with writing that damn phone call, so I didn't want to do ringing... and FTS also had a good bite in it, so I'm pretty much all bitten out. So I went mostly with hanging out in NY.


End file.
